Memento
by Tetra Seleno
Summary: AU. Haunted by images of places he's never seen, memories of people he doesn't know... when the line between reality and fantasy falters, Roxas' world begins to crumble.
1. File 01: Square One

"_Are you still dreaming?"_

_"It wasn't a dream! …or was it? I dunno. What was that place? So bizarre…"_

"_Yeah, sure."_

"_A paopu fruit…?"_

"_If two people share one, their destinies become intertwined. They'll remain a part of each other's lives no matter what. C'mon, I know you want to try it."_

_"What are you talking –"_

"_So, this is called a Keyblade?"_

"_Oh, and guess what! … the Keyblade Master! Who would've thought it?"_

"_Really? Well, what do you know? I never would've guessed."_

"_Let's take the raft and go… just the two of us."_

"_Kairi… Kairi! Open your eyes!"_

"_It's no use. That girl has lost her heart."_

"_This world has been connected."_

"… _give him back his heart!"_

"_But first, you must give the princess back her heart!"_

"_Tied to the darkness."_

"_Don't you see yet?"_

"_It reminds me of the secret place back home, where we used to scribble on the walls. Remember?"_

"_Soon to be completely eclipsed."_

"_Once we step through, we might not be able to come back. We may never see our parents again. There's no turning back! But this may be our only chance… we can't let fear stop us!"_

"_There is… so very much to learn."_

"_I'm not afraid of the darkness!"_

"_The princess' heart is responding; it has been there all along! Her heart rests within you!"_

"_All for one and one for all!"_

"_Yet… you understand so little."_

"_This time, I'll protect you."_

"_One who knows nothing can understand nothing."_

"_Wherever you go, I'll be with you."_

"_Let the Keyblade choose… its true master."_

"_You are the one who will open the door to the light."_

As the images of people and places bombarded him relentlessly, Roxas woke up screaming.

* * *

  
Memento  
_By Tetra Seleno_

_Disclaimer: I do not own Kingdom Hearts – it belongs to Square Enix, Disney, and Tetsuya Nomura. Please refer to this disclaimer in all future chapters when pertaining to this fanfic._

_File 01: Square One_

* * *

In the middle of the night, his room was dark, illuminated only by the pale light from the eternally-twilit sky. Twilight Town was famous for its sky – it was its main attraction, because how many cities out there don't fully experience night and day? The sky here was always filled with beautiful reds, golds, oranges, violets, and yellows that stretched on for miles and miles. The only way one could tell the difference of time in Twilight Town was the color of the sky – pastel colors meant dawn, or daytime. Deeper, more regal colors meant dusk, or nighttime.

The boy sighed, his eyes staring wistfully at the pale yellows and pinks that painted their way across the sky. Morning already? It didn't seem that long ago he set himself to bed. But then, of course, he wasn't getting much sleep anyway.

Three nights, now, he'd gone without a decent night's rest.

He ran a hand through his unkempt blonde hair. He was turning into a wreck, he was sure of it. He was bound to have dark rings under his eyes, and lately he'd been feeling incredibly tired and drained from his sleeping issues.

Yes, his dreams. The boy sighed again and collapsed against his pillow. For three nights, he'd been having the most intense dreams he'd ever experienced. Yet, when he woke up the next day, he could barely remember them. But he still woke up shaking and dripping with cold sweat.

This was definitely not a normal occurrence.

The boy shut his eyes and tried to think. What was he dreaming about? Why did he wake up in so much pain? He couldn't exactly remember his dreams, only bits and pieces – and what he could remember were things he didn't want to. Horrible images of black monsters with chilling, glowing eyes haunted his thoughts. He shuddered at the memory of them.

The boy opened his eyes and looked out his window. More colors spread across the sky, and below he could hear residents of Twilight Town stepping out of their apartments and heading off to work.

There would be no point in hiding it from the others – he suspected he looked like a wreck today. He shook his head at the very thought of his friends. Hayner would get upset and demand just what the hell was wrong with him, accusing him of not taking better care of himself. Orette and Pence would take a different approach, however – expressing concern through compassion rather than shock. Either way, his friends would end up treating him gently for the rest of the day, and that was something he did not want.

Roxas shrugged, and climbed out of bed. It was going to be a long, long day.

* * *

"Pence! Catch!"

Pence, a chubby boy with black eyes and equally dark hair that was held back by a red headband ( and said headband had the amusing habit of pushing Pence's up to near gravity-defying heights ), looked sharp as Hayner grinned like a madman and tossed a ball into the air. In an instant, and with a loud _crack_, Hayner smacked the ball with his trusted bat and sent it flying towards the stockier boy.

Pence gulped as he reached out to catch the speeding ball with both hands, and just barely managed to catch it – but not before being knocked down to the ground. "Nice shot," Pence wheezed.

Hayner cackled wildly. "Oh _yeah_! Did you see that? Did you guys _see_ that?" He jogged over to his wheezing friend with a wide grin on his face. Hayner looked older than Pence, and his slicked-back blonde hair amplified his older appearance. He was lithe and lanky, dressed in camo pants, a black tank-top, and a green flak vest.

"I saw it alright," Pence laughed. "But did you have to hit it that hard, bro?"

"Sorry," Hayner grinned, a bit sheepish, "guess I don't know my own strength, yeah?"

"You should if you're going to knock Pence around like that," said a feminine voice. Hayner turned around to face Orette, a girl around Pence's age. While Hayner's and Pence's eyes were brown or black, hers were bright green, and her hair was a lovely dark red. She didn't dress like Hayner did, either – Orette was comfortable in just about anything, as long as it was comfortable.

In their little group, if Hayner was the leader, and Pence was the resident funny guy, then Orette was the bleeding heart of the group. She could never stand to see anyone or anything be bullied or tossed around like they were some old toy. She knelt down and looked at Pence with concern. "Are you okay?"

Hayner shrugged. "Hey, Pence knows I'm sorry, right?" Orette ignored him and kept her attention focused on Pence.

Pence laughed, smiling at Orette. "Don't worry about me, Orette, I'm always happy to be Hayner's favorite punching bag."

"See, now that's the spirit."

"Hayner!" Orette said in a mock-reprimanding tone, but she ended up laughing herself at Pence's joke. Content with himself, Pence folded his hands behind his head and sat up.

"Just promise you won't give me a concussion next time, okay?" Pence teased, winking at his friend.

"Deal," Hayner agreed, nodding back. "You've got my word, buddy."

"Why are you taking it out on Pence, anyway?" Orette asked curiously, standing up. She folded her arms over her chest and watched Hayner closely. "I mean, Pence's not even entering the competition, is he?"

"Well, _obviously_!" Hayner grumbled, stuffing his hands inside his pockets. "I'd practice with Roxas or something, but I haven't seen him all day."

"So, naturally," Pence interjected, "I get to be his punching bag."

"Can't beat up Roxas all the time," Hayner smirked."

Orette rolled her eyes. "Did you try calling him or anything?"

"Nope. Couldn't reach him, actually. I called him this morning but he didn't answer, so I left a message. Told him we'd be in the park practicing for The Struggle." Hayner shrugged and scratched his chin thoughtfully. "I'm surprised he hasn't gotten here sooner – it's almost noon."

The girl frowned, expressing her concern. "That's weird… it's not like Roxas to be late."

"Or to ditch us altogether," Pence added. "I mean, sure, he doesn't talk a lot, but Roxas would never do anything to let any of us down – especially you, Hayner."

Hayner glowered at the stocky boy. "What's that supposed to mean?"

Pence opened his mouth to speak, but when he saw the look Orette was giving him, shut his mouth within an instant. "Er, nothing."

"Sure doesn't _seem_ like nothing." Hayner lightly smacked Pence upside the head, shaking his head. "Man, it's hard to find good help these days."

"You sound like Seifer," Pence retorted.

Hayner spun around to face Pence, and if looks could kill, well, Pence would've been dead on the spot. "Don't you _dare_ compare me to that bastard," Hayner growled.

Pence gulped, and nodded nervously, desperately inching away from Hayner. Orette winced and sighed. Pence had brought that upon himself, even if Hayner was wrong in treating him like that.

Hayner and Seifer's mutual bond of hatred was legendary. No one really knew why – Seifer and his gang antagonized a lot of kids for years, Orette and Pence included among them. You could feel it in the air whenever the two walked into the same room as each other, which made school just a little challenging for the teenagers in Twilight Town. As far as she knew, Hayner was, for a long time, the only one who ever stood up to Seifer. After all, that was how Pence and Orette came to know Hayner in the first place.

"Hayner, please," she murmured, placing a hand on his shoulder. "He didn't mean it like that."

Hayner shut his eyes and took a deep breath. "Yeah," he sighed, visibly calming down. "You're right. I'm sorry, Pence." He smiled weakly at his friend, gingerly extending a hand towards him.

Pence shook his head, smiling back. "It's alright. I know how you get around that guy." He gratuitously accepted Hayner's hand and allowed the older boy to lift him up off the ground.

"Doesn't excuse me being an ass," Hayner said, offering Pence a small smile.

"Dude, it's okay, chill." The stocky boy held up his hands in a pacifying manner, grinning. "What's done is done, you know? Besides, like I said, I shouldn't have pushed you like that."

"You sure about that?" Hayner frowned, folding his arms. "I mean, I could make it up to you if you wanted."

"Nah, that's okay."

"No, really! I'll buy you ice cream or something – my treat."

"I said it was okay, Hayner!"

"Damn it, Pence, don't you know when to accept when someone's offering?"

Orette shook her head. "You guys'll never change, will you?" The silly grins on her two friends faces seemed to answer her question. Orette shook her head again and couldn't help but break out into smiles, too.

"Well, looks like you guys've been having fun without me."

All three heads turned to face Roxas, a boy dressed in baggy gray sweatpants, a black shirt covered by a white jacket, unkempt blonde hair and bright blue eyes. He smiled at his three friends and waved.

At once, Hayner, Pence, and Orette tackled the poor boy.

"_There_ you are!"

"Took you long enough, slowass!"

"Man, am I glad you're here. Now I don't have to worry about a concussion!"

Roxas laughed, trying his best to push himself away from the tangled mess his friends had put him in. "Hey, guys, c'mon, knock it off!"

One by one, the other children removed themselves from Roxas, big smiles on their faces. "And here I was thinking you weren't going to show up," Hayner teased.

"Better late than never, I guess," Roxas shrugged.

"That's what they all say," Hayner teased again, clapping a hand on Roxas' shoulder. "So, where've you been?"

"I got stuck doing chores for some of my neighbors in the Residential District," Roxas said hesitantly, fidgeting slightly. "It took a lot longer than I thought it would."

"Hey, as long as you're here now, it doesn't matter much to me. Did you bring your bat?" Hayner eagerly picked his up off the ground and entered his battle pose. "Because I'm ready to take you down, Roxas."

Roxas laughed lightly. Good old Hayner. "I was thinking we could do that later, actually."

Hayner looked like he'd been shot. "Later?" he whined. "I've been waiting all day for this!"

"I know you have," Roxas assured, "but I was thinking we could go out to lunch, or something. I mean, after all…" he reached into his pocket and produced a handful of munny coins, "I did get a rather nice paycheck for doing all those chores." He watched the expression on Hayner and Pence's faces as he placed the coins back into his pocket and grinned. "And there's more where that came from."

"Lunch sounds heavenly," Orette giggled. "Count me in."

"Seconded!" Pence agreed, raising his hand within an instant.

Hayner looked torn. "But… I wanted to play…" His eyes darted between his bat and the munny in Roxas' pocket.

"We can come back after we've eaten, Hayner," Pence assured. "C'mon, you've gotta be pretty hungry after what we've done all morning."

Reluctantly, Hayner sighed. "Fine," he shrugged, "you win. Let's go get something to eat."

Roxas grinned. "Cool. C'mon, guys, follow me," he said, gesturing towards the park's exit, "I know just the place where we can get a bite to eat." He sprinted off, and if Roxas knew his friends as well as he did, he knew Hayner would be at his feet in no time, because Hayner never passed on a challenge. Orette and Pence followed close behind, laughing all the way.

Roxas was just happy no one said anything about his appearance. His hair was more disheveled than usual and his eyes still had dark rings under them, but so far no one didn't say anything – or cared to notice. Either way, Roxas was happy to be with his friends.

"Hello, Roxas."

The blonde boy skidded to a halt, tilting his head from side to side. "Hello?" he asked. "Anyone there? Guys?" He turned around to look at his friends, then Roxas gasped.

All three of his friends seemed to be frozen in time. They weren't moving or breathing or anything – they stood in the positions they were in before Roxas heard that voice.

"Guys?" Roxas incredulously asked. "Guys, this isn't funny!"

He took a few steps back, his heart pounding. Was he dreaming again? He stared at his hands in horror. What in the world was happening to him?

"Hey, Roxas!"

He spun around in alarm. Before him stood a short girl with long, blonde hair and expressive blue eyes – eyes that sent chills down Roxas' very spine. She was dressed in a simple white sundress and wore sandals in the same color.

"Um…" Roxas stammered, scratching the back of his head. What the hell was going on here? "Hi?"

The strange girl giggled, somehow finding Roxas' situation funny. Roxas, however, saw no humor in what was happening and could only watch the girl in confusion.

When she stopped giggling to herself, she observed Roxas carefully. "Don't be afraid, Roxas," she said quietly, smiling peacefully at him. "Don't be afraid."

"Don't be afraid of what?" Roxas asked.

The strange girl smiled at him again, and disappeared within the blink of an eye.

"Hey, Roxas, what's wrong?"

Roxas turned around once more. His eyes widened – when would things start making sense again? Just as soon as they had turn into living statues, Hayner, Pence, and Orette were moving again, and so was the world around him.

He took a deep breath and sighed. "Um, nothing," he lied. "I was just… distracted."

* * *

**Well, here I am, writing Kingdom Hearts fanfic again. Despite the similarity to the Twilight Town scenario from Kingdom Hearts 2, this fic is definitely going to be AU. However, expect to see plenty of similarities between the canon scenario in this. ****This fic will be predominately Roxas-centric, but keep your eyes open for any other characters that choose to pop up during this little adventure. **

**And, as always, please be kind and leave a review.**


	2. File 02: What If

The control room was becoming too drab for his liking. It was always chilly, for one thing, and the continual hum of the computers stopped being soothing and relaxing a couple days ago. Occasionally there would be other noises, like the sound of typing on a keyboard, or a grunt or a sigh from the man he liked to call his employer, yet knew virtually nothing about.

However, there was no point in complaining. His aforementioned employer, a dark, cryptic man who kept to himself and never disclosed any information with him unless it was information that he had to know, wouldn't care what he had to say or feel about being uncomfortable.

To his surprise, his employer grunted and tilted his head away from the central monitor that he spent so much of his precious time at and looked at him directly in the eye once he arrived in the control room. It was rare that his employer ever made an effort to interact with him like this. "What do you want?" he asked curtly, his visible eye blinking impassively.

He straightened, cleared his throat, and took a few steps forward. He was dressed in a black robe, the hood covering his features and preventing his employer from getting a good look at his face.

"Sir, I think we may have a problem."

His employer continued to watch him impassively and almost with disinterest. "Go on."

"The memory witch is not within her quarters," the black-robed man announced, folding his hands behind his back and clasping them together. "Aren't you concerned?"

He could've sworn that his employer was starting to smirk. "Do you think that Naminé is going to betray us, is that your concern?"

The black-robed man frowned beneath his hood. "No, of course not. I _am_, however, concerned that she hasn't returned yet."

"And why is that?"

"I don't know, sir."

The black-robed man couldn't believe his ears as he heard his employer chuckle to himself and twist his head back towards the central monitor. "Fine. You have permission to retrieve the girl."

Startled, the black-robed man blinked beneath his hood. "Sir?"

"Did I stutter?" his employer asked, annoyance creeping into his hoarse voice. "Go and retrieve the girl."

The black-robed man's first instinct was to question his employer's sudden change of heart in regards to the memory witch, but quickly quieted his protest. If there was one thing he didn't need to do, it was invoke the wrath of his employer. "Yes, sir," he bowed, and left the control room without another word.

Meanwhile, his employer leaned back in his chair, allowing his golden eye to carefully watch the data presented by his computer. "So, Naminé, I wonder… what will you do next?" he asked, smirking to himself.

* * *

Memento  
_By Tetra Seleno_

_Disclaimer: Please refer to File 01._

_File 02: What If_

* * *

Roxas took a bite out of his hamburger, chewing thoughtfully while he watched Orette reprimand Hayner for belching at the table with an amused expression on his face. They were all enjoying their lunch just as Roxas hoped they would've, and nothing was making the blonde boy happier than to see his friends happy.

Pence sat beside him, an expression almost identical to Roxas' plastered onto his face. "They're like an old married couple, yeah?" He teased, nudging Roxas with his elbow.

Roxas smirked and swallowed his portion of hamburger. "I dunno. I mean, I can't say that about Orette, but Hayner's always struck me as a crotchey old man…"

Hayner folded his arms on the table and scowled. "Traitor."

"You know what they say. We hurt the ones we love," Pence joked, earning himself a swipe from Hayner. Both Roxas and Pence laughed at that, and even Orette couldn't help herself but join in on the poke-fun-at-Hayner jokes.

"Yeah, yeah," said Hayner, rolling his eyes, "make fun of the leader, why don't you."

"I'm just going to go and repeat what Pence said," said Roxas, clapping a hand on Hayner's shoulder. "We hurt the ones we love."

Hayner sighed again and, defeated, placed a fry into his mouth. "Right, right, whatever."

The four friends giggled, chuckled, and smiled at that again, even Hayner, and when their amusement subsided they all quietly returned to what remained of their food, enjoying it quietly. Roxas smiled, his blue eyes carefully watching his friends in comfortable silence.

He loved them. He really did. Roxas didn't know what he would do without them – Hayner had been the best friend Roxas could've ever asked for; Orette was like a big sister to him, always looking out for him; and Pence never, ever failed to make Roxas smile.

They were like a family to him, the family he never had. Roxas lived on his own – he had lived in Twilight Town all his life, yet he never knew who his parents were. This was accepted by many of Twilight Town's citizens to be a very odd occurrence, as they had all the information they needed on Roxas, but there was virtually nothing on his parents. He survived on the benevolence of neighbors, friends, and odd jobs he'd taken up throughout his life.

It seemed strange to some, but to Roxas, it was normal, and it was routine. It bothered him, yes, but he never said anything about it. For some reason he managed to accept it and move on with his life.

Which was why he was so glad to have friends like Hayner, Pence, and Orette. They were like a surrogate family to him, day-in and day-out, and he cherished all of them for it. They were always at his side, they were always there for him when he needed them, and he was always there for them and always at their side.

After all, Roxas mused, what were friends for?

He was snapped out of his reverie when Hayner clapped a hand to Roxas' shoulder, startling him. "Oy, Roxas, you're staring off into space here. Snap out of it!"

"Er, sorry," Roxas said sheepishly, his cheeks lightening with color. "Got lost in my thoughts, I guess."

"If you'll pardon the pun, it looked like you were out to lunch," Pence said nonchalantly, yawning and ignoring the "dude, that one was _awful_!" coming from Hayner, and the stocky boy pushed his plate away from him. "Man, I am _stuffed_."

"Here, here," Roxas agreed, gingerly patting his stomach. "I don't think I can move."

Orette giggled. "You're going to have to. Hayner wants to practice with you, remember?"

Roxas grimaced while Hayner grinned fiendishly. "No, I didn't." He watched Hayner jerk upright, pointing his finger at Roxas challengingly.

"Yeah, that's right, Roxas, you better get ready, because I'm about to beat your ass into the ground so hard that you're gonna _wish_ you hadn't crawled out of bed today."

"… well then."

Orette sighed. The dark-haired girl tilted her head to the side and raised her hand at a nearby waiter. "Check, please."

When they arrived back at the park about twenty minutes later, the first thing Hayner did was pick up the bat he'd left behind and swung it around deftly, a proud smirk adorning his features. "_So_," he proclaimed, twirling the bat expertly in his palm and setting it professionally on his shoulder, "ready to be my next victim, Roxas?"

"You could say that," Roxas shrugged, his lips tugged into a small smile. Hayner picked up the other bat he'd brought with him to the park and tossed it over to Roxas, who caught it rather effortlessly.

"Alright…" Hayner took a deep breath and entered his fighting stance: he crouched himself ever so slightly and held the bat out before him like it was a sword of some sort. "Ready?"

"Ready as I'll ever be," Roxas murmured, entering his own stance. Roxas' stance took a different approach to the game called "Struggle" then Hayner's did. Hayner's style showed exactly what kind of game Hayner played – swift and offensive. Roxas, on the other hand, held his weapon like it was a tennis racket, both hands clutching the hilt. His style was more focused on defense – a counter to Hayner's offensive style.

"Good," Hayner grinned, "because you'll need to be!" And in the blink of an eye, Hayner leapt forward, swinging his bat down in a powerful downward slash. Roxas reacted quickly – he swiftly blocked Hayner's attack with his bat's handguard. Hayner growled and jumped backwards.

"Not bad," Hayner admitted, "not bad at all. Your reaction time's improved a lot. Have you been practicing without me, or somethin'?"

Roxas smiled, but kept the bat raised. "Maybe, maybe not."

Hayner stepped forward and swept with his bat a second time, aiming for Roxas' ankles. Roxas winced and leapt to the side, collapsing to the ground, but narrowly managing to escape Hayner's attack. "Not bad!" he heard Hayner say, "not bad at all!"

Then he felt Hayner smack the bat against his back. "Except you're lying on the ground like an idiot. C'mon, Roxas, get up! You won't win the Struggle like _that_."

Roxas sighed, stood up, and dusted himself off. "Sorry," he mumbled, running a hand through his hair. "Got distracted, I guess."

"Just don't let it happen again," Hayner advised. Roxas nodded and the two boys squared each other up once more, sizing each other up and staring at each other blankly.

"Can't you just feel the intensity?" Pence joked, elbowing Orette in the side. The remaining two members of the group were sitting comfortably in a patch of grass, each of them holding one of Twilight Town's famous sea-salt popsicles.

Hayner made the first move again. The older boy lunged forwards, striking down with his weapon. Roxas blocked in a single, swift motion and a flick of his wrist, bringing the two bats into collision a second time. However, this time Hayner struck again with his weapon, knocking Roxas off balance and providing Hayner with another opportunity to strike.

An opportunity Roxas wasn't going to give him without a fight.

Carefully, Roxas threw his weight forward to reclaim his balance. When he'd completed that he lurched his body to the side as fast as he could, sidestepping Hayner's strike – much to Hayner's surprise – and in another quick, fluid motion, skidded across the grass and brought himself right behind Hayner.

There was a silence between the four friends, the only sound coming from Roxas' heavy breathing. Hayner dropped his weapon and turned around to look at Roxas in the eye, shock evident in his face.

"Wow," said Orette.

Roxas scratched his head, embarrassment washing over him as his friends stared at him. "Um, I guess… game, set, and match?"

"Dude!" shouted Hayner, who wasted no time in bringing Roxas into a headlock and giving him a noogie. "Dude! That was _sick_! When'd you learn how to do _that_?"

That was the thing. Roxas _didn't_ know how to do that. He just – he just _did_ it, like the maneuver was second nature to him. "I got lucky, that's all," Roxas admitted, smiling sheepishly. That's all it was, right? Just a lot of luck; nothing more, nothing less than that.

Hayner released Roxas from his headlock of doom after Orette chastised him from suffocating Roxas longer than what some societies would consider fair. Pence agreed wholeheartedly with that statement, which earned him an eyeroll from Hayner.

The group's little moment was interrupted by the sound of clapping in the distance. Four heads turned around to gaze at a boy around Hayner's age, wearing baggy jeans, combat boots, a very short vest that exposed a well-built stomach, and a woolen black beanie perched on his head. Covering all of these clothes was a long, sweeping white trench coat. A large, glaring scar trailed down his face, stretching from his eyebrows to the bridge of his nose. All four teenagers knew and loathed this figure from the bottom of their hearts, and their expressions warped from joy to anger and discontent.

Seifer Almasy, local bully and resident asshole, applauded for them, grinning lazily at the group. "'Sup, kids," he greeted, breaking out of his applause into a mock salute, "what's new?"

"Go away, Seifer," Hayner growled, standing forward for the group and protectively outstretching his arms. "We haven't done nothing wrong."

"Sure you haven't. But, I can at least still say hi and check up on you guys, right?" The older boy smirked as Hayner glared at him and casually took steps forward towards the group. Roxas watched Hayner's jaw clench and muscles tense as Seifer came ever closer.

"Getting ready for the big competition, are we?" Seifer asked, tilting his head to the side. Roxas frowned and Hayner growled, and Seifer shrugged off their animosity with a laugh. "Good. I can't wait to face you punks in the ring."

"Neither can I," Hayner said darkly, flashing a dangerous smile at the older boy. This time, Seifer frowned.

"Yeah?" he asked, and immediately Seifer and Hayner began sizing each other up, looking for a weakness to exploit.

"Yeah," Hayner spat, grinning like a wolf. Roxas sincerely hoped Seifer wouldn't beat Hayner up too badly – but then, with Seifer outnumbered, it wasn't like Seifer _would_. He was an asshole, but he wasn't stupid.

"Well then," Seifer said slowly, regaining his smirk and haughty disposition. "I guess I've got something to look forward to this week after all."

"Guess so," Hayner growled in agreement.

Behind him, Roxas heard Orette sigh. "Alright, alright, can you guys stop being overly macho for a moment and just break it up?"

Seifer seemed to consider Orette's offer; he looked over the four kids again ( without his gang to back him up, and, Roxas assumed, judging by the frowning expression on his face, he was outnumbered four-to-one, and those were not Seifer's kind of odds ), shrugged, and pushed Hayner away from him. "Fine, whatever. S'not like you kidlets were doing anything fun, anyway."

"Asshole," Pence mumbled under his breath as he and Roxas went to help Hayner off the ground.

Seifer stuffed his hands into his baggy pockets and strolled off away from the group. Hayner nearly tackled him, but Pence and Roxas managed to hold their friend back from embarrassing, but more importantly, _hurting_ himself.

Unfortunately, Seifer got the last laugh. As he walked off, he paused, and reached down to one of the blue balls Hayner and Pence had been playing with before. With a smirk, Seifer hurled the ball towards some bushes in the distance, then chuckled to himself and started walking away again.

Hayner growled and his muscles visibly tensed. "Let me at him," he growled, "I'm going to _kill_ him." Pence and Roxas did their best to restrain him again, wrapping their arms around Hayner's shoulders and holding him closely to their chests.

"Forget it, Hayner," Pence advised with a sigh, "it's not worth it."

"_Yes it is!_"

Pence sighed a second time. "Just save it for the ring, okay? Where, you know, beating the crap out of him is _legal_ and you won't get in trouble for it?"

The older boy protested again as his muscles remained tense and he shot a pleading look at Roxas, who merely shook his head. Pence was right – it wasn't worth it. Defeated, Hayner slumped into the grip of his friends and inhaled very quick, very long breaths.

That particular crisis averted, Roxas gingerly released Hayner from his grip. "I'm going to go that ball back," said Roxas, "be right back." He jogged off, waving to Pence and Orette. He was fairly certain they could keep Hayner calm for a few moments.

Seifer definitely knew how to push someone's buttons, especially Hayner's. The competition may or may not run so smoothly if Hayner and Seifer try to kill each other during their match. Roxas sighed; maybe they wouldn't face off. Who knows?

The ball Seifer had so carelessly thrown away had rolled its way over to a bench on the other side of the park. It caught his eye, and Roxas sprinted towards the ball as fast as he could. When he got there, though, he noticed something about it he hadn't noticed before. Someone was sitting on the bench, someone who bent forward and picked the ball off the ground, setting it on her lap.

Roxas froze.

"It's you," he said numbly, eyes wide and mouth agape.

The strange blonde-haired girl from before smiled widely at him. "Hey, Roxas. It's nice to see you again." She outstretched her arms and offered the ball back to him. Roxas stared at it lamely, completely unsure of what to do. "Go on, take it."

He did. He tucked the ball safely under an arm and scratched his ear with the other one. "How do you know my name?"

She smiled again and her eyes – her expressive, intrusive eyes – locked with his, and suddenly Roxas did not feel very comfortable. "Well?" he asked, getting a little impatient with the strange girl. "How do you know my name?"

The girl tilted her head to the side. "You know… you really do look just like him," she said curiously, studying Roxas closely. This was incredibly odd, Roxas decided, and he did not like one bit of it.

"Like _who_?" he demanded, using his free arm to demonstrate his exasperation.

"An old friend of mine," the girl said wistfully, releasing a small sigh. "I miss him."

Roxas felt a pang of guilt. Even if the girl was a stranger, perhaps he shouldn't have been so antagonizing about the subject. It made him feel like he was Seifer, of all people. "… oh," Roxas said lamely, "I see."

"Oh, I'm not mad," the girl said, dismissing Roxas' fears with a wave of her hand. "Just reminiscent is all."

He smiled a little at that. "I can understand that feeling," he said wholeheartedly. It was true, though – Hayner always complained Roxas thought too much and that it was going to be his downfall someday.

The girl smiled and opened her mouth to say something, but the words turned into a gasp and she clapped her hands over her mouth. Her expressive eyes widened in – was it shock? Or perhaps, fear? Confused, Roxas turned his head around.

Standing in the distance was a very tall man, dressed completely in black. The black ensemble was derived of black boots, black gloves, and a black cloak that covered his entire body, with a hood that shrouded his face in shadows. There was some silver adorning the cloak in a long zipper that trailed the front of the cloak and two clasps by the neck, but the outfit was predominately black.

"I – I have to go," the girl said hastily, standing up from the bench and dusting herself off quickly.

"Um, okay," Roxas said, confused. "It was, er, nice talking to you."

"Yes, it was," said the girl. "Have a nice day, Roxas." She leaned forward on her toes and planted a kiss on his forehead.

And that was when his head began to throb.

Roxas fell to his knees. "Wh-what?" he asked shakily and his hands clutched his head, forgetting about the ball. "Wh-what's happening?"

But the blonde girl had disappeared again, and for that matter, so had the man clad in black. Roxas groaned in pain. What in the world did she _do_ to him?

His mind raced with images. In his mind's eye, he could see two different figures. The first one was shorter than the second, with chin-length red hair and violet eyes. Roxas determined she was female – she was wearing a pink skirt and white tanktop.

The second figure was much taller than the first, and very well built. Silver hair was the first thing Roxas noticed about him, silver hair that fell down to his shoulders. He had striking blue-green eyes to complement it. He was dressed in baggy purple pants and a sleeveless yellow t-shirt.

Who _were_ these people?

The pain resided, disappearing as quickly as it came. Roxas gingerly lifted his head up. The girl and the man in black were nowhere to be seen. He removed his hands from his hand and stared at them in confusion. What in the world was happening to him?

He sighed and stood up. There was no sense in brooding over it now, especially with his friends just around the corner. Roxas picked the ball back up off the ground and jogged across the park towards his friends. He didn't need them worrying over him – not when he was worrying over himself.

* * *

When it was time for everyone to split up and go home, Roxas walked over to the train station by his lonesome. Hayner protested, but Roxas said he just wanted some time to himself. That was enough to get Hayner to back off – his friends understood that when Roxas needed to be alone, he just needed to be alone.

Though that didn't stop Orette from switching back into "Big Sister Mode" and fussing over him. Roxas smiled – at least he could always count on his friends to just be there.

Roxas looked at his watch as he walked through the streets of Twilight Town. The train to the Residential District wouldn't be arriving for at least a half-hour, so Roxas figured he had some time to kill. He decided to make a quick pass over by the group's "hideout".

In truthfulness, it wasn't exactly a hideout so much as a hangout. Though, they were young and foolish at the time and thought a hideout sounded so much cooler, and the name stuck. The hideout was in actuality an old alleyway that the train traveled over. Over time, the four friends had made the hideout a more than suitable place for them to just, well, hang out, replacing the worn out furniture with newer furniture.

It was, in a way, a second home for Roxas.

As he passed the steel fence protecting the hideout, Roxas froze as he made his way into the hideout. Someone was in their hideout, lying down on the grand.

Alarmed, he dashed forward towards the person. Roxas bent down on the ground and gently nudged the person, who was unconscious. "Excuse me, are you alright?" he asked.

The someone groggily opened her eyes, making some incoherent noises. "Just relax, miss," Roxas advised. "Here, let me help you." Roxas gently ( albeit with some embarrassment ) adjusted the girl's body so that she was lying on her back instead of her side.

The girl smiled weakly at him. "Um, thank you." Roxas merely nodded a response. It wasn't any trouble at all – he was glad to help.

Still, he couldn't help but notice that the girl was dressed rather… oddly. For starters, she wasn't wearing clothes one normally found in Twilight Town. The girl wore a white blouse, a blue-and-white checkered tie, and a pleated skirt to match the patterns of her tie. Kneesocks and loafers adorned her feet. Unless she was going to some party, those were not the clothes a teenager in Twilight Town wore.

When he got to studying her face, though, Roxas went numb and his heartbeat pounded in his ears. He knew this girl. It was as if he'd remembered her in a sudden moment, and the scary part was – she looked like the girl he'd seen in the images from before.

"_Kairi_?"


End file.
